As promised, here’s the final poster for the Analog Visions show on Friday in Toronto. In case you missed it, I’ll be doing a solo show at Function 13 Gallery this Friday, November 20th. I’ve been working out concepts for how to hang the posters throughout the past week, I’ve decided against frames and want to go with something a little more raw feeling for this one. The work that I’ll be showing are all printed on Hahnemühle German Etching paper which has this incredible texture. I don’t want anything to get between the viewer and the piece. I have been working with Bulldog clips and nails, spray painting the clips matte white and using longer nails to let the piece stand off the wall a little. I think it’s going to look nice, but I’m still open to any suggestions, if you have any ideas for alternative poster hanging methods, let me know in the comments.

As for the poster design itself, I spent way longer than expected on this one. It was meant to be a quick promo poster for the gallery but the deeper I got into it the more I realized I had to finish it off properly. Once you hit on a concept you kind of have to decide whether to go all the way with it or save it for when there’s time to do it right. It was a stretch, but I was able to get it done in time (deadline was this morning) so it’s pretty nice to finally see it in it’s completed form. As you can see, this is another take on the Nocturne poster, featuring the same model. Seeing as how these events are the same night I wanted them to be related, but not exactly the same. I wanted the Nocturne design to be a little more divergent from my earlier work while this one was meant to sort of bridge the gap between new and old given the nature of the gallery show. You can see a larger version of the image over at the studio site.

The version above is probably the fifth or sixth, not counting the various in between states. The final file ended up around 4GB, 24×36″ at 300dpi but I did most of the heavy lifting with low resolution smart object stand-ins so it wasn’t too slow. In case anyone was wondering, this is the project I was referring to in the Photoshop Question / Problem post. All of the circles were smart objects based on the same photograph. As stated above, I worked with a model I shot here in the studio for the silhouettes, but I worked with another photographer for some elements of the background. I used some shots from Jacob Sargeant’s beautiful Experimental Set on Flickr for the detailing and color shifts. Thanks to Disign Police for turning me on to Jacob’s work.

Time for a day off and some much needed rest, hope to see you out in Toronto.

Older poster series by Darren Firth. I’ve always been a fan of Darren’s web work and recently came upon the project above while searching around for innovative ways to shoot pictures of printed work. I thought this was a cool idea; playful and interesting without being distracting. Of course the poster design is what I really like. I’ve never been able to pull off this kind of mega overlapping layout, and I always appreciate it when it’s done well like this. Hopefully going to see some new projects soon! Keep an eye out at Darren’s portfolio.

I’m doing a solo exhibition at Function 13 Gallery in Toronto next Friday where I’ll be showing some new work and large format stuff. I’m still working on the main poster for the event so I’ll be posting that on Monday probably. For now, here’s all the details:

One label that did it perfect this year was Werkdiscs, just solid A+R with a vision and exposed new sounds to the whole industry by unveiling high caliber talent like Lukid, Actress, and their new addition Lone. It really made a hobbyist/music lover like myself get excited about the hunt of music again. What Actress brought to the table this year was eye opening and Lukid’s twist on Dub gave me another record that I could put on and not worry about skipping around.

Lone’s new LP has the charm and playful nostalgia feel like his last LP Lemurian but hits a bit harder on the kicks and just comes off brighter like the sun beams glaring off snow. If you’re a Tycho, Boards of Canada, Flying Lotus, Christ., Washed Out, Neon Indian, etc. fan there is something in this album for you.

On a side note: I kind of want to rock doubles of Karen Loves Kate, just a second there I had this player and itunes playing the song at the same time and it just sounded soo warm and thick, pure goodness.

I’ve noticed these high end chocolate companies springing up left and right over the past few years. The paper-made thing seems to be the prevailing aesthetic of retail chocolate branding; employing one-color screened ink on kraft paper along with things like wax seals and cardboard hang-tags to give off that organic, handmade vibe I guess. It’s usually done to good effect but it’s nice to see a fresh take every once in a while.

When I first saw San Francisco-based Tcho Chocolate I was struck by the name (no, I didn’t trade my studio for a chocolate factory down by the pier) and then by the design. I regrettably couldn’t find many decent pictures of the actual packaging, but suffice it to say you need to hold it in your hand to really appreciate the finer points. The letterpress and gold leaf inlay are a very nice touch that I don’t think is really captured properly in the above shots.

The video above goes over the concepts that informed the TCHO branding. I particularly like the central idea of chocolate as currency; design firm Edenspiekerman’s implementation of that concept is well executed. The result is a striking design which vaguely conjures the notion of European currency whithout making you forget you’re supposed to eat it. I don’t really enjoy chocolate on it’s own but they still had me wanting some just from the packaging.

The University of Brighton has a nifty website up displaying the work of their Spring 2009 design and illustration graduates. I’ve placed some of my favorite pieces above, but there is a lot of impressive work to be seen. I think it’s great that the school puts this together for the graduates. While each student seems to be very web-capable (at least in terms establishing an online presence), this kind of collective resource allows each student to benefit from the aggregate buzz of the project. This institution-sponsored online portfolio presentation is something I think we will be seeing more and more of (in conjunction with, or probably as a replacement for, the onsite end-of-semester shows).

This is pretty rewarding 19 minute piece by Piano Magic if you have the time to slow down and enjoy the ocean wave sounds and a bell, I promise its well worth it especially right around the 7 minute mark and on.

I don’t listen to Cat Power, just never felt like she was worth looking into since I felt like the whole indie world had it covered but my best friend The Tower Of Light definitely proved me wrong by playing me this gorgeous and passion filled track that she did with Dirty Three.

Ex Boards of Canada member Christ is always releasing it feels like, this seems like a pretty raw LP, not as dreamy but heavy on highs in the Mono/Poly(?) and 90’s style breaks, I like how that he is holding down this sound and doesn’t evolve into what’s popular just for the sake of doing it.

Everyone has been leaking this new Four Tet song everywhere in the blog world, let me know if you like it, it has really grown on me, but i’m still not into the vocal samples though.

Insect54 has a great Flickr set of 70’s and 80’s Modern Publicity issues. Still waiting to find a stack of something like this in an old closet or at a garage sale, not holding my breath. Where do you find stuff like this anyways? I suppose at this point it’s down to going to shows and swap meets, I doubt there are many gems like this just floating around anymore.

Published Annually by Studio VIsta. Showcasing the best work submitted by designers from around the world.